Best Practices in School Counseling

Note: You must have completed the LAPDA course:Developing a Framework for School Counseling Programs, or receive permission from the instructor to enroll in this course.

Course Description:

In the prerequisite course participants assessed their current counseling program and school needs. Using the program audit completed in that course, participants will identify areas within their school’s counseling program to enrich and develop. Techniques in creative problem solving will be taught to enable finding new solutions to inefficient practices. Based on the need within each participant’s school, topics will be developed that focus on best practices in school counseling available in those areas.Participants will research best practices, consult with other class members, create a counseling program component to fill identified program gaps, and create an assessment process. The course is participatory and interactive; with participant input the specific topics will be determined during the first class session. Participants will engage as a community of learners to increase awareness of available counseling resources and best practices for implementing the ASCA National Model of School Counseling. Participants will support one another in the development of their comprehensive school counseling program.

At the conclusion of this course participants will:

Be knowledgeable of educational trends and practices in Vermont;

Have practiced creative problem solving skills;

Have used school data to develop a counseling action plan;

Have researched best practices in selected counseling topics;

Have researched available resources/curricula in selected counseling topics;

Have consulted with other counselors regarding best practices within their own school;

Have created a school-wide counseling program to address a specific area of need in their own school;

Have opportunities for feedback on the development of their program; and

Have developed an assessment of the program.

About the Instructor:

Kate Wilson, Ph.D. has been a practicing school counselor for 30 years. She worked 28 years in Maryland where she was a counselor, department chair, and high school counselor specialist in Montgomery County Public Schools. She has a Ph.D. in school counseling from the University of Maryland, with an emphasis on program administration. She has taught in the counseling graduate program at the University of Maryland and Johns Hopkins. She has served as a reviewer for The School Counselor, the professional journal of ASCA, and as President of the Maryland Association of Counselor Educators and Supervisors (ACES).